The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

Publisher: Penguin Aus
Pub. Date: May 3rd 2010
Age Range: 12 and up
Pages: 300
Format: paperback
Source Of Copy: from the publisher - Penguin Aus

Love is all you need . . . or is it?

Penny is sick of boys and sick of dating, so she vows: No more. She's had one too many bad dates, and has been hurt by one too many bad boys.

It's a personal choice . . . and soon everybody wants to know about it. It seems that Penny's not the only girl who's tired of the way girls change themselves (most of the time for the worse) in order to get their guys . . . or the way their guys don't really care.

Girls are soon thronging to The Lonely Hearts Club, and Penny finds herself near legendary for her non-dating ways – which is too bad, since the leader of The Lonely Hearts Club has found a certain boy she can't help but like . . .

A lovable debut about love, heartbreak and girl power that you will love, and love even more if you happen to be one of the Beatles fans.

I enjoy this book more than I expect. The title and even the synopsis indicate a story about heartbroken girls who have sworn off boys, making me think of a sad, depressed and very vengeful atmosphere. The Lonely Hearts Club, surprisingly, is nothing like that. It's fun and exciting and different. You think the club is one of the those that are against guys? Think again. It's actually more meaningful. It's about putting friendship and yourself first to find real happiness. I find that really sweet.

The good thing about the book is that every member joins the club with very similar but different reasons, at the same time their choice to take the membership feels really natural. That makes the readers sort of excited, and once or twice I really wish a club like that existed in real life so that all the girls could get together and have fun.

The characters in The Lonely Hearts Club are very adorable. Penny Lane isn't exactly a special girl but she isn't a typical one either. She feels like someone you can befriend with easily. Diane & Tracy, too, play important parts in the story, thus their characters aren't flat or forgettable. Although Penny's falling in love with a boy is very predictable, I won't tell you who he is to save the fun later. All I can say is he's super sweet and you'll like him for sure.

This is a lovely read I don't think readers should miss. Give it a chance!

Rating: 4/5